Bromsgrove 1960

The main theme of this year was the beginning of regular appearances of Royal  Scot  and  Patriot  locomotives,  and  the continuing  and  developing  use of  former LNER  B1 4-6-0 engines. In February distribution of motive power because  of  the steady dieselization of the Euston - Crewe - Carlisle  main line brought  Scots and Patriots for the  first time to 41C Millhouses  Shed, Sheffield. The engines involved were:

45514  'Holyhead'

45536 'Private W Wood VC'

46131 'The Ryal Warwickshire Regiment'

46147 'The Northamptonshire Regiment'

46148 'The Manchester Regiment'

46151 'The Royal Horse Guardsman'

46164 'The Artists Rifleman'

This ensured  that  thereafter there would  be regular and increasing  appearances of  this class  of  engine  on the Birmingham to Bristol  route,   a  complete  change  from  anything  that  had  gone before when the appearance  of  any  Scot or Patriot, other than the 45509 'The Derbyshire Yeomanary' had  been  a  rarity. As an aside, February also saw the  closure of 21B Bourneville shed, whilst a cheap trip from Bromsgrove to Bristol only cost 10/6d:

More trains to Redditch

From Monday 25th April saw  the  start  of  an  improved  Birmingham to Redditch via Barnt Green service with trains operated by diesel multiple units. The real interest on  the  traffic front  began in May with the southbound 'Pines Express' arriving at Bath behind 45710 'Irresistible ' 26A Newton Heath) on Tuesday 3rd May and 61152 (41C  Millhouses) on Wednesday 18th May.

Former LNER B1's at Bromsgrove

This was reported as the first B1 seen at  Bath, went on  shed, and later took out the 2215 Bath to Birmingham parcels Tuesday 31st May 61027 'Madoqua' (41A Sheffield Darnell)  returning with  the next  day's northbound 'Pines Express'  However, the  most  interesting  visitor  of  the  year  so  far  appeared  on Saturday 14th May when former LNER K3 61853 double headed Jubilee 45662 'Kempenfelt' through to  Bristol on the 1348 York to Bristol, yet  another example of  this train producing  something  out of the ordinary. The K3 (from 41A Sheffield  Darnell) had been attached  at  Sheffield. On  arrival at  Bristol the  foreigner  was  in no  hurry to  go  home as it remained  at Barrow Road shed until Monday 16th May, by which  time B1 class 61337 (50A York) had arrived on  an  unknown working The whit weekend saw former GWR 2-8-2T 7244 at Bromsgrove on a pick up freight, a  most unexpected visitor, while  Royal  Scot 46119 'Lancashire Fusiler' appeared at  Worcester on Saturday 28th May with some  empty stock. June was no less  interesting,  with a number of 'foreign' visitors:

Summer workings through Bromsgrove

As the summer traffic built up, the unusual workings continued with  early July bringing one of the most notable workings ever to the Birmingham to Bristol  route. On  the  Friday  evening  of 8th July  Clan  Pacific 72005  'Clan  Macgregor'(from 12A Carlisle) was  put  on  the 2045 Fridays  only  Bradford to Paignton,  working back  north  next  day  from  Bristol  on  the 0745  Paignton to Newcastle via Worcester and  Bromsgrove. This  was  the  only  recorded visit of a Clan to  this  route these engines  were normally employed in Scotland or from Manchester and Carlisle  to  Scotland, their visits south being  extremely rare. Of  course  by  this  time  the  holiday  traffic was at its peak bringing all sorts of  interesting locomotives  through Bromsgrove :

Royal Scots take over

Whilst  all  these  visitors  were  arriving  the  Royal Scot locomotives were establishing themselves and appearing regularly. The last steam-hauled service  from Great Malvern to Birmingham New  Street  was  the 0924  train, the  locomotive  being  provided by Saltley depot, the train usually being five  corridors of ex-LMS stock. The motive power was very variable, ranging from an 0-6-0 to a tank engine or a Black '5'  but on one  occasion it was headed by 46100 'Royal Scott'.

August was to bring an allocation to  Saltley (21A) for the first  time,  of a batch of  side-window Fowler tanks for us  on local services. The engines  involved were 42415/16/17/21/22 and they were soon at work on trips to Worcester. 42417 was observed working the 0932 Worcester to Birmingham  service on Wednesday 28th September. On Thursday 18th August B1 class 61176 (from 51A Darlington) worked the northbound  'The Pines Express'  express from Bath.

Observations at Bromsgrove

Several  hours observation at Bromsgrove on Wednesday 24th August gave a good indication of the motive power in use with 77 different  locomotives  being  observed  from 11  different  classes, and  of  course no diesels yet: It is also  worth  noting  that  these  locomotives came  from 29  different  sheds, as  diverse  as  Neasden, Kentish Town and Cricklewood in London, Swindon,   Blackpool, Carlisle and Bath. The details were :

42761 (21A Saltley), 44404 (41E Staveley (Barrow  Hill), 45088 (21A Saltley), 42763 (17B Burton), 44659 (21A Saltley), 45182 (26F Patricroft), 42818 (17B Burton), 44662 (55A Leeds Holbeck ), 45217 (16D Annesley), 42890 (21A Saltley), 44673 (12A Carlisle  Kingmoor), 45221 (16A Nottingham), 42922 (17B Burton), 44754 (55A Leeds Holbeck) ,  45242 8A , 43017 (21A Saltley), 44813 (21A Saltley), 45275 (6B Mold Junction), 43885 (16B Kirkby-in-Ashfield), 44828 (55A Leeds Holbeck) ,  45519  'Lady Godiva'  (82E Bristol Barrow Road), 43948 (21A Saltley),  44849 (55A Leeds Holbeck), 45541 'Duke of Suterland' (2A Rugby), 43951 (12A Carlisle Kingmoor),  44856 (16A Nottingham). 43975 (21A Saltley), 44866 (2A Rugby), 45557 (17A 'New Brunswick), 44004 (21A Saltley), 44920 (21A Saltley), 45570  'New Zealand' (41C Millhouses), 44076 (2E Northampton), 44941 (14A Cricklewood), 45572 'Eire' (82E Bristol Barrow Road),  44143 (21A Saltley), 44944  (21A Saltley), 45579 'Punjab' (14B Kentish Town), 44165 (21A Saltley),  44947 (24E Blackpool), 45598 'Bassutoland' (17A Derby),  44179 (21A Saltley),  44966 (21A Saltley), 45610 (17A Derby) 'Ghana', 45612 'Jamacia' (17A Derby), 45618 (17A Derby) 'New  Hebrides, '45626 'Seychelles' (17A Derby),  45639  'Raleigh' (55A Leeds Holbeck ), 45649  'Hawkins’ (21A Saltley);  45651 'Shovell', (82E Bristol Barrow Road)  45655 'Keith' (5A Crewe  North), 45658 'Keyes' (55A Leeds Holbeck) ,  45659  'Drake' (55A Leeds Holbeck) , 45660 'Rooke' (82E Bristol Barrow Road), 45668 'Madden' (17A Derby) , 45682 'Trafalgar' (82E Bristol Barrow Road), 45694 'Bellerophon' (55A Leeds Holbeck), 45702 (26A Newton  Heath) 'Colossus', 45724 (5A Crewe  North) 'Warspite', 45725 (41C Millhouses) 'Repulse' (17A Derby), 46164 (41C Millhouses) 'The Artists Rifleman', 48006 (16B Kirkby-in-Ashfield), 48029 (41E Staveley (Barrow  Hill)), 48060 (18A Toton), 48095 (18C Hasland), 48170 (16A Nottingham),  48277, (16B Kirkby-in-Ashfield), 73000 (41B Grimesthorpe), 73001 (82C Swindon), 73003 (82E Bristol Barrow Road),

More Interesting workings

Incidentally one of the  more interesting workings still operating at this time was the through Exmouth to Cleethorpes  service travelling over four  different regions of British  Rail. The  remainder of  the year continued  to  serve  up  a  good  variety of  motive  power with a real  surprise in December. Patriot 45536 'Private W Wood VC'  from Millhouses shed  arrived  in  Bristol on both Sunday 11th September and Tuesday 4th October, the second occasion in charge of the  westbound 'Devonian', while B1 visitors in October were:

Land slip on the Somerset & Dorset

In December the very wet weather caused a landslip at Midford, blocking for a few days the Somerset & Dorset line between Bath and Templecombe. A decision was made to temporarily re-route the 'The Pines Express' from  Bournemouth via Salisbury, Bath (GWR), and Bristol,  and then the normal route to Birmingham. On the first day  of this  re-routing the train was worked through to Birmingham by West Country Pacific 34102 'Lapford' an unprecedented  event. The engine returned next day on the balancing working. Unfortunately, 34102 almost ran out of coal on the return trip, arriving  at Bournemouth with  an empty tender and a run-down fire. When this state of affairs became known to the authorities the through working was stopped, engines changing at Bristol, but  before it was changed a former GWR Hall  class 4-6-0 apparently worked through to Birmingham. On Wednesday 7th December Pacific 34105 'Swanage' headed  the train through Bath, but it is not known how far she worked.

Scottish Region locomotives visit

December turned out to be a really surprising month for on Friday 9th December the  northbound' Pines Express was worked by Carlisle Upperby (12B) Jubilee 45723 'Fearless', while Royal Scot 46107 'Argyll and Sutherland Highlander' (from 66A Polmadie, Glasgow really away from its normal haunts) headed the northbound 'Devonian' out of Bristol on Monday 12th December.